Dock Diving: Tackling EV and speed retrieve!

Penny started on the dock a year ago - she jumped from day 1 and we are working on technique to get her farther (mostly handler issues now haha). Today we started baby steps towards training for Speed Retrieve and EV. She was doing pretty good at speed retriever - she isn't too confused by my not throwing and will get the "bumper" off the thingy at the end. Lots more practice to be done and we still sorta splash a bit to get her attention on it but - she is getting it an it's coming along!

Next is EV! Just a tiny step on that front, the trainer holds the end piece to see if the, on the grass, will at least see and grab the bumper. She did, though obviously it's hard for the dogs when they are right next to the dock - all they want is to get on! but we rewarded touching it then she grabbed it so all good. with some rewarding for baby steps she did grab it. So next week we'll take more baby steps in training that too. It's our last class though, but hopefully I can get out to a few "open dock" sessions to keep training as it isn't really something you can just "keep trying" in competition.

Speed Retrieve - it's quite the swim for the dogs, a good work out! She isn't going to be a speed demon but as long as she keeps at it I'll be happy.

Fun times. Sam loves dock diving. He doesn't jump very far because he insists on doing a standing jump (he always stops at the end of the dock) but he loves it. He caught on to speed retrieve quickly. You can practice that at home with dry runs by suspending a bumper and letting the dog go run and grab it. This can be good for getting the dog some practice on grabbing it hard enough to pull it off all the way, some dogs have too soft a grab and don't get it fully released when they grab it. We have not tried EV.